Hunter College of CUNY is a minority serving institution, with a full commitment to research and teaching. Our major goal is to expand and improve the research infrastructure at Hunter. We will continue our commitment to increase the opportunities for under-represented minority students to pursue scientific careers in areas of biomedical research by providing and environment of excellence and active research at Hunter. Our goals are in accordance with those delineated by the Minority Opportunity for Research Division, Minority Biomedical Research Support Branch of the National Institute of General Medical Science. In this application we are proposing to replace an obsolete instrument in our current Bio-lmaging Facility. We are in urgent need to replace our confocal microscope obtained a decade ago from Molecular Dynamics who quit the confocal business a few years ago. For example, parts are no longer available and the parts graveyard is rapidly drying up. We are requesting a state-of-the-art confocal microscope (Leica TCS SP2). The capabilities of the instrument quoted are suited for the needs of the five major users, four of which work with central nervous system tissues. Investigators in the biological, behavioral and biophysical sciences will also make use of this instrument. The confocal microscope system will be utilized in projects ranging from damage and repair of the nervous system to materials applications in nanotechnology. A sophisticated confocal microscope system will allow us to enhance our productivity, bring state-of-the-art techniques to our College, and allow our research faculty to be more efficient in completing funded research projects and applying for future funding. The instrument requested will have these outcomes: (1) Increase the number of minority and non-minority trained in biomedical research. (2) Increase the number of collaborations, publications and grant applications. (3) Increase the annual number of peer reviewed papers. (4) Improve the research climate at Hunter College and facilitate the establishment of new research programs. This improvement will ultimately facilitate the hiring of more research faculty. [unreadable] [unreadable]